China Reports Energy Efficiency Progress in 2016: Report

China has reported progress on its energy efficiency and clean energy levels in 2016, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The amount of energy used per unit of GDP dropped 5 percent last year, a good indication to the country's target to bring down the figure to at least 15 percent by the end of the decade, state-backed Xinhua News agency reported.

Clean energy such as hydropower, natural gas, and wind power account for 19.5 percent of the country's total energy consumption in 2016, up from 17.9 percent recorded in 2015.

China is still relying more than 60 percent of its power from coal; however, it aims to cut down its dependency to as low as 55 percent by 2020. It also plans to allocate $361 billion in clean energy by the end of the decade, as it aims to shift 20 percent of its power source from non-fossil fuels in 2030.

However, many experts are throwing doubts on the accuracy of the figures, Climate Change News reported.

"There's a lot more transparency on emissions than before, but the side that is more sketchy is calculations for economic growth, and that's worth scrutinsing," Sam Geall, ChinaDialogue's executive editor, said.

Earlier this month, China also announced its plan to quadruple the annual output of energy vehicles to 2 million by 2020. Miao Wei, the Industry and Information Technology Minister, said that the country aims to sell at least one new energy model vehicle in every five cars sold in by 2025.